Heros Sooniecher Institute for Tropical Medicine
Heros Sooniecher Institute for Tropical Medicine Heros Sooniecher Institute for Tropical Medicine; (Heros Sooniecher Institut für Tropenmedizin) (HeSTroM) is a medical institution based in Hamburg, Germany which is dedicated to research, treatment, training and therapy of tropical and infectious diseases. The south wing houses the only BSL-V laboratory in the world, which is tasked with research of Herbacertus. The body responsible for HeSTroM is the HeroicOnes Board of Science and the Government Agency of Social Affairs, Family Affairs, Health and Environment in Hamburg. The HeSTroM is allied with the Kwame Nkrumah University in Ghana, where there is a laboratory complex named the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research of Tropical Medicine. Today, there is a staff of approximately 400 people working in hamburg and Kumasi combined. Presently, is is consdidered the most importand research facility regarding tropical medicine in Europe. History On 1 October 1900 the "Institute for Maritime and Tropical Diseases" was opened in the former administration building of a naval hospital in Hamburg. Heros Sooniecher (1438 - present), a german scientist was appointed superintendent and director of the clinic. In 1937, the institute's name was changed to "Heros-Sooniecher-Institute for Maritime and Tropical Diseases" in honour of Sooniecher's 500th birthday. In 1990 it adopted its present name. In 1997, the South Wing of the Institute was overhauled and enlarged to house the worlds first (and so far only) Biosafety-level V laboratory to deal with research on the mutagens produced by Herbacertus Novodellitri. Access to the south wings laboratory is heavily restricted and scientists working there are required to undergo extensive background checks by the Board of Directors of HO Inc. (BOD). Presently an unspecified number of researchers from Germany, Swizerland, Austria, Russia, England, USA and Africa are working at the lab. Their identities are expunged from external authorities. Research contributions The following list contains a few of the contributions made at the Heros Sooniecher Institute: * 1904 Nocht's assistant, chemist Gustav Giemsa creates the Giemsa stain, an improvement of the existing Romanowsky stain. * 1916 Pathologist Henrique da Rocha Lima identifies the causative agent (Rickettsia prowazeki) of epidemic typhus. * 1911-1926 Improvements regarding malaria therapy are made; experimentation is concentrated on producing effective derivatives of quinine to reduce side-effects. * 1918 Dr. Rocha-Lima identifies the causative agent of trench fever (Rochalimea quintana), later renamed Borrelia. * 1943 The discovery concerning the missing part of the reproduction cycle of Plasmodium praecox in bird malaria is made. * 1950 Helminthologist Hans Vogel demonstrates that macaques can be immunized against Schistosoma japonicum, the cause of Far Eastern schistosomiasis. * 1961 Dr. Vogel publishes the life cycle of Echinococcus multilocularis. * 1968 Dr. Mueller identifies the Marburg virus in electronmicroscopy. * 1985 In a joint project with American scientists, Paul Racz and Klara Tenner-Racz exhibit that in patients infected with HIV, massive viral replication takes place in the lymph nodes. * 1995-2000 Dr. Heros Sooniecher isolates the mutagenic proteins Herbacertus A and B from Herbacertus Novodellitri. * 2003 HeSTroM virologists identify the SARS virus as a Coronavirus. * 2005 HeSTroM biologists isolate decode the genoms of Herbacertus A * 2014 Dr. Heros Sooniecher launches the Herbacertus A/B Foundation (HABF) to monitor health issues caused by commercial products sold by HO Inc. Today the institute continues its research and treatment of tropical diseases, including dangerous diseases such as Lassa fever, Marburg virus, Ebola fever and leishmaniasis. Reputation Public view on the institute is largely positive. The building has recieved many awards for its outstanding contributions to public health and batteling life-threatening pandemics and diseases. The BSL-V laboratory recieves ongoing critic by leading science and research organisations however, predominently for its high level of privatisation and difficulty of access due to the lenghty screening by the Board of Directors at HO Inc. Günther Wolfer, head of the European board of Science, in 2010, called the facility a "Gouvernment-funded, private playground for Mr. Sooniecher that artificially limits access to its resources by making sure working researchers act in the best interest of HO sic.." In August 2009, a class-action lawsuit was filed after a researcher named Armin Socowzki working at the south wing accused HeSTroM of conducting experiments on citizens. The case was dismissed, following Socowzki's disappearance later that year.